Dive Brief:
- AliveCor raised $30 million in new funding, led by Mayo Clinic and Omron Health, a vote of confidence in its FDA-approved, artificial intelligence-empowered stroke prevention platform, the company announced Thursday.
- The device, called Kardia Pro, helps doctors improve stroke prevention by tracking patients’ weight, activity and blood pressure and sending EKG readings directly to a cardiologist.
- Overtime, the cardiologist can detect changes in EKG readings that might suggest a change in the user’s heart health.
Dive Insight:
Kardia Pro joins AliveCor’s earlier product, Kardia, which also provides EKG readings, but doesn’t include the physician-facing, AI-enabled platform. The $30 million in Series D funding will be used to speed up innovations in heart health and expand the business, AliveCor said.
Artificial intelligence is a hot topic in the healthcare space these days. However, to realize AI’s potential, health systems and other providers need to consider carefully how they apply it, IBM President and CEO Ginni Rometty told attendees at last month’s HIMSS17. Among considerations are that it be open, cloud-based and domain-specific, provide data transparency and offer a range of services.
It's still the wild west for such products as AI/machine learning is still finding its place in the industry though in all likelihood could find many places in the industry. Administrative tasks may be an easy win before clinical AI from an adoption standpoint. Clinical-related AI will likely more evidence-based research before mass adoption and price points may be troubling for smaller practices but at this time, it's exicting to see new tech possibilities.